


Spider Sides

by themistywitch



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Minor Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Mutation, OCD Roman, Prinxiety - Freeform, Spiderverse AU, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Sympathetic Remus, Trans Virgil, but it’s not brought up much, change, creativity twins, demus - Freeform, emile does their costumes and stuff, he builds all their equipment and stuff, i don’t know how to tag things, logicality - Freeform, tactical support Remy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 13:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20098324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themistywitch/pseuds/themistywitch
Summary: Spiders, coming from 6 different dimensions, slowly make their way into Virgil’s apartment building, infecting him and his friends. The spiders are all different, and each has different properties. And suddenly, they are called upon to be the next spider-people, and to team up with spider-man himself. Dealing with the spiders’ mutations, and all of the change and fear brought by the spider’s curse is hard. And it’s gonna be one hell of a journey.





	1. 1- SpiderV: origin

**Author's Note:**

> so, this was inspired by _cosmic_sketch_ on instagram, but i took a lot of liberty. i mainly just used the concept but it was still a great concept by them! thx for the inspiration. more notes at the end!

cr- _cosmic_sketch_ on insta

Virgil Storm was sitting in his apartment when he heard a scream from one of his three roommates. Virgil Storm, it should be noted, was already aware of what it might be. When he went out there, he was most likely to find Patton standing on the table, scared for his life, as a spider crawled innocently around on the floor, looking for a place to make a web somewhere in their cramped apartment. So Virgil got up, groaning as his back protested the hours he had sat bent over working on a particularly complicated commission. He stretched his legs, then walked across the room, legs wobbling from the physical exertion of the night before, running from a small time criminal trying to get his non-existing money. His legs hurt like hell, but he dragged himself across the room, and opened the door, limping down the hallway. He passed a poster in the hallway. That poster had the picture of a man in a spider suit on it, the one and only spider man. That man, unbeknownst to Virgil, was his landlord and next-door neighbor, Thomas Sanders. 

~

Thomas was walking home from a productive day of work, and down the hall of his apartment building, humming slightly to himself. He heard a scream from the door at the end of the hallway, and sighed to himself. The antics of those guys. Thomas, it should be noted, was himself not much older than them, in fact, he was only 1 or 2 years older than the oldest in there. But he still felt like he was 30 around those idiots, and though he loved them, they could be chaotic. If he guessed, that scream was probably Patton freaking out over a spider. He sighed again, and smiled. What idiots.

~

Virgil rounded the bend of the hallway that held all of the occupants of the apartment’s bedrooms. As he suspected, Patton was standing on the table in the living room, and a small spider was crawling around on the carpeted floor. Virgil sighed, walking over to the table and reaching down to pick the poor thing up. It scuttled up his finger, and onto his hand, stopping in the middle, and plopping down right there.

“Affectionate little guy, aren’t ya? Let’s get you out of here, it’s not safe. Patton might smash you with a shoe.”

He laughed as he saw Patton’s offended glare and ‘fraternizing with the enemy!?’ expression. He walked over to the window, and opened it, feeling the breeze, then poked his head out. He reached the hand with the spider on it out, and moved to pick the little guy up, but the spider, somehow sensing the threat, panicked and bit Virgil, and jumped off his hand, landing on the wall next to the window opening, and scuttling off along the brick surface to find another home. Virgil drew back, wincing a little at the pain in his hand, but smiling nonetheless.

“You can calm down now, he’s gone,” he laughed as Patton stood still on the table, keeping his ready position. Virgil decided to stay for dinner, which had finished cooking while Virgil let the little spider guy go. Patton had been making mac n cheese, and while he dished it up, their other roommates walked in. “Hey Ro, Logan. What’s up?”

“Guess who just got cast as the lead role in his playyy?” Roman exclaimed excitedly, practically bouncing where he stood, shining with pride. 

“You did?! Way to go Kiddo!! I knew you could do it!”

Patton beamed, motioning the two new people to sit down at the table as well, as he set the bowls of fresh Mac n cheese on the counter. Roman hurried to get a seat at the table, pulling his stool out and practically flying into his seat. Logan sat down as well, though slower than the other. They both started at their food, enjoying it thoroughly. Patton had that special touch when it came to food, everything he made just tasted so good. Whether it be signature crafted macaroons or simple Kraft mac n cheese, it always tasted better than when anybody else made it. Virgil, despite being tired and unenthused, downed his serving in an unnaturally small amount of time, before downing a second, then retreating to the confines of his room. It was a very uncommon sight when Virgil ate nearly that much, but it did make sense, mac n cheese was his favorite food, other than instant ramen, which he had one or two packets of every other day as his sole source of food, other than carrots and prunes and milk, for ‘nutritional purposes’. Patton made him eat snacks and occasional healthy meals, just to make up for the skinniness of the poor boy. 15 already and only 4’11, and so skinny he would be too small for a corset. Patton was worried about him, but it was times like these, where he ate this much so fast, Patton was just grateful he had the little guy. 

~

Virgil scuttled into his room, quite satisfied with his meal, and ready to get back to working on that commission. It was quite an important one, this one had been commissioned by Spider-Man himself, for a new poster design. Virgil had been happy to oblige, especially since he had been given lots of free range, and was having lots of fun. Virgil was about to sit down in his chair in front of the tablet, when he was hit with a sudden wave of pain and tiredness, and he flopped backwards on his bed, moaning. Cramps, now? Why, world? He groaned and slid his hands over his abdomen. His legs ached too, and his arms, and all of his muscles, wtf was going on?? Was he dying? Oh well, might as well go to sleep. He didn’t even twist on the bed before falling into a deep sleep. 

~

Virgil awoke the next day (day after next, actually), having slept for about 39 hours. He woke up at around 10:30 in the morning, dragging himself out of bed, and practically crawling down the hallway, he was slouching so much. He was damn tired, and he needed coffee. He stumbled into the kitchen, and over to the coffee maker, and muscle memory made the coffee for him. As it started brewing, he heard a loud “Wow, the great beast lives!” from behind him. He turned an unamused look on Roman, who was smiling wryly. 

“I only slept for about 15 hours, dumbass. It’s not that uncommon,” he rolled his eyes at Roman’s amused look. 

“Actually, you slept for about 39. You went into hibernation. We had to call 911, but they couldn’t tell what was wrong with you. You seemed just fine, but very, VERY tired for some reason. We just let you sleep,” he told Virgil, before adding, “You sure you’re feeling ok?”

“I feel fine, just tired. And sore. And short. Am I shorter than normal?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve always been short.”

“Shut it, dumbass.”

“Ha, tiny- hey!!” Roman’s comment was cut off as Virgil flicked water at him.

“Like I said, I’m tired, and now I’m pissed. Good job, you’ve ruined my morning,” he grumbled, going to pick up his coffee. He brought it up and took a chug, trying to shake off the tiredness. It helped a little as the caffeine kicked in. He went to set the mug down. He pulled his hand back up, only to splash hot coffee all over himself.

“FUCK! Shit, that burns, god, fuck, holy shit, damn- mnmmhhhh…” he cursed as the hot liquid burned his skin, and soaked his clothes. Roman rushed back over to help, grabbing a towel and dabbing at the moisture. 

“What happened?!” 

“I don’t know, I just tried to set my mug down, then went up to itch my nose- fuck!” As he spoke, the cup once again went along with his hand, splashing more boiling hot coffee on his face. Virgil looked angrily at the cup, shaking his hand away from his body, and the cup went with it, not coming off.

“Let go of the cup, dude, and stay still, I think you have some pretty bad burns here-”

“I can’t, Roman! It’s stuck! The cup is stuck to my hand- get it off!” Virgil predictably started panicking, swinging his hand around, trying to unstick the coffee mug, and completely ignoring Roman. He sprung up, violently swinging the cup around, and trying to walk away, but the hand on the table refused to move. Virgil tried again. It stuck. Virgil attempted to step away, but his feet stuck on the ground. Shit. He was stuck all over, and he did not like it. He pulled and jerked and tore at his hand, just trying to free himself, and then- it gave way. The counter literally came apart, the cracking sound loud and violent as the rock it was made of protested. The pieces of rock were now attached to Virgil’s fingers, and Roman was staring at him in disbelief. The hand holding the coffee mug finally released it’s grip as his hand went limp with shock.The coffee mug shattered into pieces on the floor, as Virgil’s body went limp, and he succeeded in stepping back, and, in fear, he scrambled, trying to get around the counter. He ran, faster than normal, around th ecorner, and up the stairs, scaling them with unnatural speed, rushing to his room. He scrambled in the door, slamming it behind him, ignoring the shouts of Roman from the floor below. He threw off his hoodie, shaking his hand to unstick it, then his shirt, and scrambled to the mirror, trying to see what was wrong with him, what was happening, and- what? 

As Virgil looked at his figure in the mirror, he fell to his knees in shock. He had shrunk- not just a centimeter or two. He had shrunk at least a foot. But his face, oh, lord, his face- he had a second pair of eyes. A second pair of eyes. They had black scleras, and red irises, and they blinked, and- and his teeth. They were so sharp, and they looked- they looked ready to infect a person on contact- and oh, god, what- what had happened to him- and how had Roman not noticed? He was grateful, dont get him wrong, but- why hadn’t he noticed his face? It was most likely the hood, but… that was still unlikely. He let it slide for now, and examined his face once again. Why was this happening? What was going on? He sunk into his bed, covering his face with his hands, ready to cry. And, and some point, he did. 

~

Thomas had a feeling. He didn’t know what it was, it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. After about 7 hours stuck knee-deep in this feeling, it was more of a presence now, and it was coming from next door. Thomas, after trying to ignore it for a while, decided to go next door to try and figure out what the heck was going on. He got up from his couch, slinking over to the door to open it. He walked out into the hallway and turned right, to come face to face with the new-comers, two guys named Dorian and Remus. The one in green, who Thomas had a feeling was Remus, was snanking on- was that deoderant?? And the one in yellow was smacking him over the head with a book, and yelling at him about something to do with something he said, but Thomas was not focused on that, the presence was overwhelming now, so he ignored the two and walked past them, to get to the door a few feet away. He was in a daze now, the presence was so strong. He barged right in, Barely stopping to say hi to Roman, and then followed his senses up the stairs, and around the corner, and then to the end of the hallway, and through the door. It was there he saw Virgil, curled up into a ball, heaving soft sobs. Somehow sensing Thomas was there, Virgil looked up. And their gazes met.

~


	2. Error 404: Glasses not found

The two stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Virgil couldn’t handle it after about a full minute. He broke down into sobs once again, unsure what else to do. Thomas, utterly unprepared for this, took about 5 seconds to process, and then fell to his knees to try and comfort the crying teenager. Virgil shrank away from the touch, hissing, then covering his mouth in shock at the sound he made. He started crying again, inching away from Thomas.

“G-Go away, I-I’m- b-” He stuttered, trying to form words, trying to push Thomas away, but his body wouldn’t obey him, and he only batted softly at the body trying to comfort him, unable to properly do anything in his little hell hole of emotions, his shell he put himself in. 

Thomas was trying to figure out what his spidey-sense was telling him, but it the presence pouring from Virgil was not danger, but rather- someone like him? Was Virgil a spider-? It was likely, but right now, the main issue was getting Virgil to calm down, and figuring out what happened to him. 

“Hey, hey, it’s ok, you’re ok, I’m here- are you alright?” He comforted Virgil while slowly rocking him, pulling him closer into somewhat of a hug. Virgil instinctively sank into the warmth of the hug, desperate for comfort.*

~

Dorian sighed as he set the last thing to unpack in it’s place, adjusting it slightly. He was finally unpacked, even though it had taken ages, but he was proud and hungry. He turned to the kitchen, ready for a good meal. He thought about making grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a thing with his family to have grilled cheese and tomato soup as a celebratory meal, as his family often gathered every year to pick Gma’s tomato crop and make soup with the whole family. He had been sure to bring plenty of jars of soup for the new place. He was starving. He set course for the pantry to grab some bread. 

The apartment around them was newly decorated, and everything was neat, as both people who lived there knew it never would be again. Dorian Slytherin, and yes that was his name, was a biology major going to the nearby college, and he was looking to be an herbalist. The other living in the apartment, Remus Sash, was a performing arts major at the same college. He was looking to be a movie actor. Both of them were good friends, and knew other people in the same apartment building, and as a matter of fact it was those others that had recommended the place to them. 

Dorian pulled open the door to the pantry to find his roommate with a large spider in one hand, and the deodorant he was snacking on in the other. 

“...This is why I fucking hate you. Put the spider down, stop eating deoderant, I’m about to make lunch,” He deadpanned while grabbing the bread, and then the butter, and the jar of tomato soup. Remus giggled, going to put the spider down. He suddenly cried out, as a pain jolted in his wrist, which was bitten by the alarmed spider. Dorian dropped to his knees to check that Remus was ok, before wincing himself as the spider bit his leg before scurrying off. D cursed as he nursed his leg, which was already swelling on the bite mark. He slowly stood up again, flinching as his leg protested. Remus helped him as he stood, lacing his arm under Dorian’s, and onto his other shoulder. 

They walked out of the pantry, and after tending to their wounds, D got to to making dinner. He always made grilled cheese and tomato soup as a comfort food, and right now he really needed a comfort food, because damn, he was feeling shitty. He attempted to not fall asleep while stirring the simmering tomato soup, and then, after struggling to stay awake while eating the food, and not bothering to do the dishes, he collapsed on top of Remus on the couch, not able to hold his own weight anymore.

~   
  


Roman was uncomfortable with the amount of time Virgil and Thomas had been up there, but he avoided interrupting whatever was going on. He had been able to tell Virgil was extremely distressed when he had accidentally broke the counter, and Roman could see why, but Virgil had been acting weird. Very weird. First he sleeps for 39 hours and then he starts sticking to things, and spilling boiling hot coffee on himself. Roman also noticed that he had really weird black spots on his cheeks. They were really weird.

One thing that should be mentioned is that Roman is basically blind. He has an extremely high prescription. He had not bothered to put his glasses on that morning, figuring that on a sunday morning with nothing happening, he could be allowed to wander the house practically blind. This is why he did not notice Virgil’s four eyes, or his shrink in size. With that out of the way, back to the story.

Roman was pacing back and forth in the kitchen. He paced and paced, walking back and forth, muttering to himself, winding himself up in an invisible string, trying to get himself to stop, but unable. He was just too nervous. What was going on up there? How had Virgil broken the counter? Why was he sticking to things? Now that Roman thought about it, everything that morning had been way too odd for comfort. Roman was just too wound up- it wasn’t normal. What if he was hurt? What if he was having a panic attack? What if- no, it’s fine, Thomas is up there, but… Roman paced and paced, restraining himself from racing up there to check on him, but it’s so hard. 

“Ow!” he cried out in pain as he looked down to see what had happened to his foot- and there, on the floor next to it, was a very insulted-looking 6-inch spider. It squeaked at Roman to watch where he was stepping, which Roman could not discern, and then scurried off angrily. Roman, after being confused for about 5 seconds, went back to pacing. And then he ran up the stairs. He ran past the other bedrooms, to get to Virgil’s. He stood in the doorway, and rushed in. He was still very blind. 

“Virgil! Where- say something?”

“You’re not wearing your contacts, thank god- I’m right here, Roman,” he sighed as Roman stumbled towards the voice. He sat down and scooted towards the noise, so as to not accidentally kick him and Thomas. Once he got a hold on his hand, he started patting up the arm, and then he found the shoulders, and pulled Virgil close. He uses his right hand to ruffle Virgil’s hair a little, and he just sits there for a second, hand in hair and arms around Virgil, then he let go, heaving a sigh of relief. 

“How long did you pace before coming up here?”

“Roughly 15 minutes, and i also got bit by a spider. Nearly six inches big, that thing was. He got my foot,” He explained while lifting it to show the bite mark. There were two red dots, about an inch apart, and the foot was swollen and red. Roman couldn’t see this, and wasn’t very worried, but Virgil could see clear as day that he needed a doctor- he could see the venom going through his veins! Wait- he could- how was he doing that? He squinted, trying to make out what was going on in his vision. The clarity of everything was new, in fact, everything was unnaturally clear. He could see every detail, every little edge, every texture and pattern with overwhelming clarity. What-? That was something to worry about later, right now was the time to get Roman- wait, where did the wound go? It had been there a second earlier, now it had stopped swelling, and was just two red dots on his foot, but Virgil could still sense it, the venom running all through Roman’s veins… but now that Virgil concentrated, he could tell that for some reason this wasn’t deadly, nor was it dangerous. Also, why could he see Roman’s veins…? He grabbed Roman’s leg, looking it over, to make sure they weren’t drawn on or something. When he was quite sure that the veins were inside, he put Roman’s leg down, leaving Roman looking very confused, and with a small blush on his face. 

Virgil collapsed in on himself once again, processing the fact that he could see Roman’s veins, and now that he focused, Thomas’s too. He squinted his eyes shut, all four of them, trying to shut it all out, not go into another nervous breakdown, not right after the last one. He felt a soft touch on his shoulder, as Thomas grasped his hand as well, trying to calm him down. 

“Hey, it’s ok, you’re gonna be fine. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I can see your veins. I can see Roman’s veins. I'm going insane. What the hell is happening?! I-”

“Shhh, hey, it’s fine, you’re not going crazy. You’re fine. It’s probably just a side effect of that new second set of eyes.”

“Second set of eyes? Visible veins? What the hell is going on here?!”

“Oh, no. Roman, I- I can’t explain. I have no idea what’s going on, though Thomas seems too.”

“Hey, don’t call me out like that. Roman, do you have your glasses?”

“Uhh, no, why?”

“Go put them on. I think you need to see Virgil again. If he’s to have anyone he can trust, it should be you.”

“I don’t understand anything you’re implying, but ok.”

He got up and carefully stood up, using objects as a guide to get to the door.

“Seriously Roman, what have I told you about not wearing your glasses? Come on, I’ll lead you.”

Virgil got up, taking Roman’s hand as he started on the path to Roman’s room. They walked into the poster-filled room, and Virgil grabbed the glasses off of Roman’s bedside table.

“Now, before I shove these onto you face, I need you to promise me you won’t freak out.”

“Uh, I promise I won’t freak out? What is going on, Virgil-”

He was cut off by glasses shoved violently onto his face. He blinked as the world came into focus once again. What also came into focus was Virgil. Roman’s mouth fell open as he took in Virgil’s new look.

“Eyes- tiny- whaaa???”

“Don’t hurt yourself, big guy. I’m tiny and stick to things and have multiple eyes- I’m basically a spider. And what do we say about spiders?”

“If we don’t hurt them, they won’t hurt us…”

“Good. I’m basically a spider- I’m a spider! I got bit by a spider, and now I’m a spider, am I a spider-man!? Oh my god Roman, I’m a spider-man! aaaAAAHHHHH-”

“AHHHHHH-”

They started yelling in unison, both freaking out.

A shout of ‘SHUT UP!’ came from downstairs. That must have been Logan. Footsteps came up the stairs, signalling Patton probably checking on them. Roman and Virgil looked at each other. 

“...fuck.”

Roman immediately jumped in front of Virgil, trying to hide him, which wasn’t hard, giving his size. Patton appeared in the doorway, with a concerned expression on his face. 

“You ok, kiddos? I heard yelling-”

“Yup! Ok! Fine and dandy!”

“Fine and dandy?”

“Shut up, I’m improvising,” he hissed, before turning back to Patton. “We are perfectly fine. No need to worry-”

  
“Roman, I can tell that something is wrong. I know your expressions. Now, I would like to know why Virgil is hiding from me. Virgil has  _ never  _ hidden from me. Now start talking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, patton knows when things are up, and he's getting serious.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which remus and dorian suffer confusion and logan gets frustrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwu

i will now start using they them pronouns for remus because headcannons :)

“Roman, I can tell that something is wrong. I know your expressions. Now, I would like to know why Virgil is hiding from me. Virgil has  _ never _ hidden from me. Now start talking,” he practically growled, a look that could scare the strongest warrior of Rome on his face. 

Roman nervously swallowed.

“I-”

“It’s nothing Patton. I’m fine,” Virgil offered, trying to ease up the tension. It didn’t work.

“If nothing was wrong, you wouldn’t be hiding from me. If you don’t come out from behind Roman by the time I get to 1, there’s no mac and cheese for a month. And I’ll thow out all the ramen. 5…”

“Fine!!” Virgil shouted as he jumped out. 

“Virgil no!”

“He’s gonna starve me, Roman!”

“You can live without Ramen and mac and cheese! You can’t live without a home!” Roman countered, as they both forgot Patton was actually right there. 

“He was counting down! I hate that! What even happens at the end of a countdown?! It’s too scary to think about!”

“You idiot!” 

“Guys…”

“Yeah Patton?”

They simultaneously cursed as they realized he was still standing there, completely dumbfounded.

“Tiny spider man…” he whispered, his face the human counterpart to the @o@ emoji. He slowly walked over to Virgil, who was currently frozen in fear. He got about 2 feet away, then stopped. He slowly raised a hand, and as Virgil squeezed his eyes shut in fear, gave Virgil a small pat on the head. Virgil flinched, but peeked one eye open. Patton was practically sparkling. “So smol… :D” he smiled, and then in one swift motion, scooped him up in a gigantic hug. “I’ll never be mad at you, Virgil, and even if I were mad, I would never strike you. Please know that. No matter what you look like, how tiny or how many eyes, I’ll always be here. I’d never leave you,” he whispered, gently squeezing Virgil, then setting him down. 

He turned to Roman. Roman did not look good. He looked sick, and about ready to pass out. He swayed where he stood, getting more unbalanced in every passing second. Patton rushed over, just as he started to fall, catching him before he hit the ground. 

“Roman! What’s happening!?”

“I-it’s the venom, it’s kicking in- it’s not gonna hurt him, but it’s doing something,” Virgil whispered, focusing his eyes on Roman. He searched over Roman’s body, checking for a pulse out of instinct, finding a steady heartbeat. “Let’s lay him down, see if we can help his wounds. That’s all we can do for now, we’ll just have to wait it out.”

~

Dorian groaned as he sat up, sore all over, especially on his back. He stretched his arms up above his head, yawning loudly. He felt Remus stir beneath him, and looked down. His vision was blurry, and he closed his eyes again as his head pounded. Remus scrunched his face, yawning as well, as they attempted to get up. Dorian flopped back down on top of them, Remus grunting with the impact. 

“You know I’m smaller than you, right?” they rasped out, coughing a bit as they struggled to rise from the couch, “and you’re vERY-” they coughed some more- “hEavy!” they broke off, wheezing. Dorian rolled onto the floor, then rose up, concerned. 

“Are you okay? You sound sick- is your face green and black!?”

“I don’t know, is it?”

“It looks to be- I need my glasses. Where-?” He searched around for his glasses, patting around the table, going for the gold rings that signififed his gold-rimmed glasses. He slipped them on his face, then looked down at Remus. His mouth fell open. Remus laughed.

“What, am I just that hot?” they giggled, but sobered up when they saw the look of shock and apprehension on Dorian’s face. “What’s up?”

“Your face is covered in fur, and you have, like eight eyes. Remus, is this a prank? I swear to God, if this is a prank-”

“Well you have six arms, so you cant get mad at me for looking weird,” Remus grouched, clearly not nearly as worried as Dorian about the fact that their cheeks were soft with green and black fur. 

“No I don’t-” D shot back, before catching more than one left hand in his peripheral vision. “Well, f-”

~

Logan was walking home from his job as a librarian that day. He was quite content, really. He had spent half of the time shelving books and the other half working with the kids in the children’s section. A very successful and enjoyable day. He really was not expecting to come home to his friend freaking out while pacing on the ceiling, next to his other friend, who was wrapped in a cocoon of webs in the corner of the room, while Patton tried to coax him down. He encountered this scene as soon as he opened the door. He dropped his duffel bag on the floor. He stood, frozen in the doorway, face frozen in confusion. His abrupt stop caused his glasses to go askew, so he looked very disheveled. 

Virgil was barely breathing, he had almost forgotten to. His throat was tight, and sweat was running down his brow, as he waited for a reaction. Roman was snoring, which really kind of interrupted the tension. Patton was frozen in the kind of face a cat would make when it was caught in the middle of doing something it knew it wasn’t supposed to be doing. 

Logan, to everyone’s surprise, groaned. “All I asked for,” he began softly, “Was NORMAL GODDAM ROOMATES for ONCE in my life!! AAAGGHHH!” He shouted, face a mix of exasperation and frustration as he tore his glasses off his face and began angrily untie-ing his tie as he stormed up the stairs, cursing to himself. “When I come back down, I want Roman off the ceiling, the counter cleaned, the dishes done, and a fresh jar of Crofters, or so help me, I will actually move out!!” he shouted down the stairs before slamming the door. They heard muffled music drifting down through the walls. 

Virgil fell from the ceiling and Patton stayed stuck in his shocked cat expression, eyes now staring off into space. Virgil stared up at the ceiling. What just happened…? He slowly got up, mind dazed. He slowly walked over to the kitchen, the back of his mind having heard Logan’s threat to move out and acting. 

Virgil knew that Logan was technically not allowed to move out, Logan was his legal guardian, along with Patton. But he knew he would get grounded or something, so his hands set about cleaning the kitchen. 

Virgil’s parents were amazing parents, but they had to move to a small country in Africa for their work. They had tons of people to help. They were pediatricians, and their company had sent them to help where a tornado had struck a highly populated area, full of kids. They would be out there for at least 6 months, at most they would be out there for 2 years, helping the hospital rebuild, and keeping the kids healthy and safe until the children’s hospital was rebuilt. They were the best pediatricians in America, and were constantly on the move, with Virgil by their side. Virgil loved his moms, and was super proud of them and what they did. He didn’t hesitate to tell them to leave for Africa, he could stay here, with his moms’ previous patient and closest and most trusted friend, Patton, who didn’t hesitate to take Virgil in for as long as they needed. 

When Patton was 8, he had gotten really sick with lung cancer, right around the time that Virgil’s moms had adopted him. When Patton was 10, he had met Virgil’s moms, they had been assigned to look after him. They brought Virgil to work every day, and Patton got to play with him every day, forming a strong bond with the tiny child. After 8 years of fighting lung cancer, he was finally released from the hospital, but not without exchanging all the available contact information with Virgil’s moms. They had stayed in contact every single year afterward, checking up on how he was doing, his health, and frequently they would meet, so Virgil could see his best friend/adopted big brother. About two years in, Patton had introduced Logan to them, and they formed a bond with him as well. When Virgil’s moms had asked Patton to take care of him for a time, Patton had immediately accepted, no questions asked. 

Virgil was wiping the counters down, still staring into space. Logan’s music played from upstairs, the soft melody and steady beat lulling Virgil into a sort of trance. Logan’s music tended to have that effect, he was skilled in making calming, anxiety relieving tunes. Virgil was drying off the last section of the counter when his phone pinged, vibrating in his back pocket. He absentmindedly gave the counter one last wipe and pulled the phone. It was his Mom, texting to check in. Virgil absentmindedly wondered what his moms would think if they saw him now. He opened up his phone, and was about to text her back, when his phone started vibrating and ringing. They were facetiming him- what was he supposed to do!? His finger slipped over the answer button on accident, and his mothers’ faces appeared on the screen. He dropped his phone and scurried into the corner, knowing full well it would make them sad that he was hiding, and hating himself for it. 

“Virgil?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Is something wrong? Can you come into the camera?’

“Uhh… I spilled paint on my face, and I look weird.”

“Virgil, we’re your mothers, we’ve seen you in worse situations. Could you please come out…?”

Virgil nervously crawled towards the phone. He picked it up, dreading what would come next. He slowly brought the camera to his face.

~

Dorian was very distressed. He was flailing about, as Remus nervously nibbled on their deodorant. 

“What am I going to do!? What’s going on?! WHY do I have 6 arms!? What-”

“Who are you even talking to?” Remus questioned, “it’s not like I know anything,” he sighed as he fell back on the couch. Dorian turned to them, face still nervous, then sighed as well. 

“I don’t know, you really don’t seem to be freaking out about this as much as I am, which makes me doubly nervous. At least you didn’t wake up with multiple limbs, but still- ugh. This sucks,” he moaned, falling into the recliner behind him. His four extra arms fell with him. He attempted to control the arms, and succeeded somewhat in gaining some orientation with them. He got up again, and went over to the kitchen to check the time. 12:50PM, the day after they fell asleep. They had slept for 12 hours. Dorian sighed, knowing this would screw up his sleep schedule. He was doing online school, so it didn’t matter as long as he got the work done, but still, he would have to fix that. And the hands on assignments… he couldn’tpossibly do those without getting caught. What was he going to do!?!?

~

Patton watched as Virgil cleaned the counters in a daze, still in somewhat of a daze himself. His mind was wandering, finding things to think about to avoid the confusion of the recent event. He was thinking about cats, considering the possibilty of adopting a cat… or a puppy, or a pidgeon, or a snake, or a lizard, or a bunny- ow. Patton looked down at his foot. A small spider scurried off of his foot. He didn’t have time to cry out before the darkness overtook him.

~

In a different reality, a man watched the monitors in front of him. His face illuminated by the light of the many computers facing him. His orange-tinted sunglasses glinted in the blue light, colors conflicting as the man smiled. 

They were dropping like flies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪


	4. an update!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after 6 months holy shit im bad at this

I AM NOT DISCONTINUING THIS!! I am just revamping it. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked on it (sorry!) and I’ve since improved and will keep improving and changing while I work. I probably won’t have a stable updating schedule either, because I don’t only have many other fics in progress. I have school and such, too. I should specify, unstable doesn’t mean I’ll only post a chapter once every 2 months. It means I might post 2 chapters in one day and then not post in 2 weeks only to post a long as hell chapter after writing the whole thing in one go at 3 am and editing it the next day. It’ll be a little wacky, but I’ll keep going, I promise! 

Next point, I’m changing a few things about the story. First up- Virgil’s design. His starting height was actually 5’2” and he shrunk about 3 inches, putting him at 4’11” after the transformation. His face after the transformation looks a bit different as well. That’ll be described in the following chapter. The story takes place in modern-day but without the coronavirus. The following chapter was written partially before I ghosted this fact and partially after. I’ll place an asterisk where the two are separated. Sorry again for disappearing. 


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uwu

“Why is this happening?” Virgil asked as Logan calmly rubbed his arm in a steady loop. Logan answered simply,

“I don’t know.”

Logan wasn’t going to tell Virgil about the spider that bit him earlier. He wasn’t about to put Virgil through that. Patton was sleeping soundly on the couch opposite them, drool falling out of his mouth. A steady buzz came from Roman’s sleeping body in the corner. He was mumbling, sleep talking. 

“mmbmbb cr0ft3rzzssz…. pattonnnc4ke ,’D…”

Virgil drifted back to sleep, and soon enough, Logan did too. 

~

Thomas cursed as he swung through the city. He had to jump out the window in the middle of his tenants’ crisis because a villain just HAD to pop right at THAT moment… I mean, like, what the hell? 

“I-”

“Yeah, T, I know that you’re mad. Just fight the goddamn villain and then you can go back to helping those kids with their mid-life crisiss- crisees- whatever the plural of crisis is. The villain is moving down-” The voice in Thomas’s watch spouted the rest of the directions as Thomas sped through the alleys of Miami. 

“Thanks, Remy. By the way, tell Emile to take Virgil’s measurements. And possibly Roman’s. I’ll explain later. Villain is in sight.” 

Thomas swung towards the masked woman running through the streets with a gun and bag of money as he hoped this would end quickly. 

~

Virgil stirred as he heard a knock at the door. He got up as quickly as he could in his sleepy state, stumbling over to the door to answer it. He peered through a crack to see one of Thomas’s friends standing there. 

“O-oh, hey Emile, what’re you doing here?”

“Oh, I was just passing by and wanted to pay you a visit-”

“Oh, I’m really sorry but it’s kinda hectic here and we can’t- it’s really- I just-” Virgil tripped over his words, tears welling in his eyes as he once again was hit with the weight of his situation. He shook violently, chest heaving, already choking on sobs. How did this happen? Why him? Why his friends? He’ll never live a regular life again, everything will change, He can't go out, he’ll never- he can’t- 

He was in Logan’s lap again, slowly rocking as Virgil’s tears rolled down his cheeks. A voice was reminding him- 5 things he can see. Logan, Emile, the couch, Roman, Patton. 4 things you can hear-*

And he was breathing somewhat normally again.

“Can you explain the situation to me?”

Virgil shook his head, biting his knuckle frustratedly. He didn’t want to. He wanted to talk about anything but this. This situation was way too much. Emile smiled anyway and pat Virgil’s head. 

“Thomas says hi and that he’s really sorry he had to disappear like that. Important matters came up. Thomas’s job saves lives, y’know, so he’s gotta go when work calls.”

“Mhm…” Virgil had completely forgotten about Thomas somehow. 

“I can see why he was so worried about you guys… but I’m sure this will all work out in the end. Things almost always do.”

“Emile, how am I supposed to do anything when I look like this?”

Emile didn’t know how to answer that. He knew many people with facial differences and deformities, but none that looked so  _ otherworldly _ as Virgil looked now. It was obvious that if he went out, he would face discrimination and hate and maybe even verbal and physical assault. For his face and his height, too. He now stood at 4’11’’. He’d helped people with phisical deformities get through the hate they received, but Virgil was a different case altogether. Those people had wounds or birthmarks or an odd shape. Virgil had a galaxy across his face and four black sclera’d eyes, and sparkly purple and green irises. He had an innocent face and eyes, but that wouldn’t stop anyone from calling 911 if they saw him. Emile answered honestly.

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know, Virgil. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I just… I don’t know what to do. If this situation gets any worse, I- I just…” 

Emile knew what Virgil meant. 

“Is there anything you normally do when things get out of hand?”

“I play Animal Crossing or draw-”

“YOU HAVE ANIMAL CROSSING!?”

Emile's face lit up like a flashlight. Virgil laughed a bit at Emile’s shocked reaction.

“Can you- can you show me?”

Virgil nodded and got up. He turned the TV on and powered up the switch, pulling up Animal Crossing. Emile was bouncing up and down, beaming with exitement. 

“I can show you my island if you’d like.”

“Yes please!”

Virgil was already feeling a bit better. He got to going around his island, and Emile was captivated. Virgil had put in months of work on his island, and it was quite impressive. He was still in crippling debt to Tom Nook, but hey, his island looked pretty. He showed Emile the different outfits he had made, and his house, and his cute villagers. He also showed the technique he used to get large amounts of tarantulas for money. Time seemed to stop as they laughed and smiled, exploring the island and fishing and collecting fruit, and before they knew it they were both tired. Emile was the one that suggested that they go to sleep. Virgil was ready to show Emile out so he could go home, a little sad that he had to go, but Emile insisted on staying.

“You’re 15 and you can take care of yourself, but not in such a stressful situation. I’m here for you, Virgil. I’m your friend. I’ll stay here with you and Logan until both Patton and Roman wake up, and I’ll stay to help you assess the situation and help you deal with it. Is that ok with you?”

“Thank you.”

Virgil looked exhausted. Everything was obviously weighing down on him. Emile led him to his bedroom and let Virgil be. Virgil went to the sink to wash his face as Emile left and closed the door behind him. He moved down the hall and down the stairs, heading to the couch next to the peacefully sleeping Patton. As he sat down, he pulled his phone up. He called Thomas first. 

“Hey, Thomas, how’s the cleanup going? It’s taking a long time-”

“A little bit after you let Remy take over for you at the seat, it all went to hell. I’m just leaving now, the cleanup team ushered me off. They said they could take care of it themselves. That was 5 minutes ago. I was fighting a guy with a cloning power, it was horrible- There were endless amounts of him. He was horrible at fighting, but they just kept coming, I had to find the original and take him down. How is Virgil doing?”

“The situation’s only gotten worse. Patton has been bitten as well. Virgil calmed down after we started playing Animal Crossing. Tomorrow I’ll get Virgil to show me some of his art if he’s comfortable with it. As things go along, we’ll just try to keep control of the situation. As Olaf said in Frozen 2, ‘we call this, controlling what you can when things seem out of control’. I’m staying with him until we can understand this whole situation. What’s happened, what’s happening, what might happen, and what we can do to deal with it and find the new normal going forward. I’ll probably need to help Patton and Roman as well.”

“Emile, you can’t do that all alone. I-”

“It’s fine. I can-”

“Remy and I will come too. Logan is there as well. You can’t be the sole person on which this all hinges. You’ll burn out in no time.”

“...ok.” 

**Author's Note:**

> so, yeah, here we stop, and discuss what happened to Virgil’s face. he was bit by a spider with much more mutating venom, and therefore his face changed, and he became more spider-like. i might add another set of arms later, idk. the eyes give him amazing eyesight, and the teeth are actually full of venom. and if ur wondering why he slept so long, it’s because his body needed lots of energy to make the changes to his body and mind. anyway, see you later, suckers!! :p (~^v^)~ uwu :) ;D)


End file.
